A speaker enclosure is a cabinet or enclosure that houses one or more speaker drivers and associated electronics, such as crossover circuits and amplifiers. Such electronics are generally provided on a printed circuit board, which is mounted on an interior wall of the speaker enclosure. Although generally configured as rectangular enclosures, speaker enclosures are also available in a wide variety of shapes. Such shapes include spheres, ovoids, tear-drop shapes, or any one of a wide variety of curved or curvilinear configurations as suits the functional and esthetic needs of the designer. Speaker enclosures can also incorporate internal baffles, reflex ports or tubes, and acoustic insulation in order to improve acoustic performance.
In order to provide free movement of the speaker driver, many speaker enclosures (particularly those intended for the reproduction of low frequencies) include one or more reflex ports or tubes. These provide openings through the wall of the speaker enclosure allow for pressure equalization between the interior and exterior of the speaker enclosure when the speaker driver is active, thereby allowing the diaphragm of the speaker driver to move freely. In addition, such reflex ports or tubes can be configured and positioned to provide a resonance chamber (such as, for example, a Helmholtz resonance chamber) within the speaker enclosure. Such resonance chambers can be designed to transmit sound that is generated towards the back of the speaker enclosure forward, towards the listener. They can also be designed enhance certain frequency ranges and thereby improve the reproduction of low frequencies within small speaker enclosures. Achieving optimal performance of such resonance chambers is a complex task, which is rendered even more difficult when spherical, curved, or curvilinear speaker enclosures are utilized.
A potential source of distortion in the audible signal generated by a speaker enclosure is the printed circuit board. As noted above, such printed circuit boards are generally attached to an interior wall of the speaker enclosure. This is usually accomplished using screws that affix the printed circuit board to a planar interior wall of the speaker enclosure. In such a position, however, the printed circuit board can be an additional source of acoustic vibration, particularly over time as vibrations of the walls of the speaker enclosure during use loosen the screws used for fixing the circuit board. In addition, such an approach is not well suited to speaker enclosures that do not include a significant planar aspect, such as spherical and ovoidal enclosures, and as such do not present planar surfaces suitable for printed circuit board attachment.
Attempts have been made to address such issues. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,513 to Jordan et al. (filed Apr. 31, 1990) describes a nontraditional speaker enclosure that includes a cylindrical housing which incorporates a speaker driver and a printed circuit board, and is turn connected via an opening to a cylindrical reflex tube that runs parallel to the cylindrical housing. Such a speaker enclosure, however, relies on affixing the printed circuit board to a wall of the enclosure, where it remains subject to intense vibration. In addition, such an approach does not accommodate curved or curvilinear speaker enclosure designs.
Attempts have also been made to address the issue of resonance chamber optimization within a speaker enclosure. For example, U.S. Patent Application 2011/0206228 to Shiozawa et al. (filed Feb. 24, 2011) describes the use of a reflex tube that can be moved to different positions relative to the speaker driver in order to modify the performance of a resonance chamber within a speaker enclosure. However, since the process of generating an optimal resonance chamber is a result of complex interactions between the components of the speaker enclosure, their relative positions, and their relative dimensions it is unclear if such a device can be successfully utilized in curved or curvilinear speaker enclosures, in which both the position and angle of the reflex tube or port relative to the speaker driver would be altered by such movement.
These and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Thus, there is still a need for an audio speaker that incorporates a simple and reliable positioning of a printed circuit board within the speaker enclosure, in particular one that supports the use of curved and/or curvilinear speaker enclosure shapes and/or the generation of a resonance chamber within the speaker enclosure.